For the nuts, essentially anyone (or a mixture of any) of the types of nuts listed can be used to make this parmesan. We like this mixture as it gives the parmesan a nice depth of flavor. With that said, feel free to experiment to see what you prefer.

For the cashew nuts, we often use roasted unsalted cashews — again, this is just to add another rich flavor note to the parmesan. And for the pinenuts, we say 1/2 to 1 cup as we sometimes find the pine nuts to be a bit overpowering so we often just add 1/2 a cup. With that said, if you really fancy pine nuts, go ahead and add the full cup.

To make the parmesan, in a food processor, grind/pulse the nuts into a fine meal. If making the full recipe, it is best to pulse each type of nut separately. Note: Do not over pulse the nuts, or they will become greasy and turn into more of a nut butter.

If adding pine nuts, pulse them last — just pulse a few times and then add the nutritional yeast, garlic and onion powder, and salt — this helps to absorb some of the oil from the pine nuts making them easier to blend.

Lastly, mix all of the ingredients together and toss to combine.

*Note: The amount of onion and garlic powder, as well as the amount of salt, can be adjusted according to your tastes. This particular mix is quite heavy on all 3, but since only a small amount is typically used at any given time, we think it’s a good mix.